What are your experiences with newly gelded stallions?

[Life O'Reilly]

I have a five year old stud that we gelded a little over a week ago. I intend to allow him a more normal life now that he is a gelding and hope to pasture him with other horses (geldings and mares) in time.

A little bit of background: He is a well adjusted, quiet, good-natured horse and has been off the property to competitions both under saddle and in hand as a stallion. He has been bred and has sired 5 foals, he has also run with his mares and foals. He was not bred this season (we are 'down under' so it is the late middle of our breeding season now) and he is currently paddocked alone but in view of other horses.

My question is to those of you who have experience gelding older young-stock. How long was it before you believe the hormones left their system and they could be considered a gelding and how did you handle their re-integration in to a herd? My vet suggested five weeks but I wanted to canvas popular experience based opinion here.

I know a number of horses who were gelded later in life and have happily adjusted to life as geldings but I don't know the people who owned them at the time of their gelding, I know the people who own them now.

I look forward to your replies, thank you in advance :)

[STF]

An old cowboy told me once, that for every year of age, equals how many months after gelding to "become a gelding".......
So if its a 3 yr old stallion, then 3 months to settle.
Dont know if its true or not, but......

[Dressage_Diva333]

I think it would take several months... I had a 3 year old gelded, he had never bred, and it took about 2 months for him to totally act like a gelding.

I wouldn't put a new gelding that had bred in the past in the pasture with mares after only 5 weeks... you want to be 100% sure that he is healed completly. You DO NOT want him jumping on mares, or anything for that matter for a while. You risk eviscoration, which is not fun... don't ask me how I know :no:

[Movin Artfully]

My experience was with a stallion with a very successful show career under saddle for 2 years with national titles and then was retired to the breeding shed for 10 years. Gelded at 14 :confused: He was an angel under saddle and in hand. An absolute gentleman at all times; one of my favorite horses of all time. An amazing animal.

The barn I worked for received him 1 year post gelding- he was turned out with a gelding mix...and was miserable. No aggression or misbehavior...simply little to no social interaction with the other horses. Attempted pasture rotation with some older mares...same thing. He constantly ran the fence calling to 3 young broodmares with babies on the other side of the farm. He was on pasture and received regular exercise.

I was told his blood/hormone levels were normalized and I know they were checked by a vet. The owners tried Depo with no success. This went on for about 9 months and they sold him because of it :( This horse behaved perfectly when sharing the arena with mares...but had amazing anxiety/instinct when turned out. It was very sad. I don't know where he would have been happy.

[Life O'Reilly]

I wouldn't put a new gelding that had bred in the past in the pasture with mares after only 5 weeks... you want to be 100% sure that he is healed completly. You DO NOT want him jumping on mares, or anything for that matter for a while. You risk eviscoration, which is not fun... don't ask me how I know :no:

Sorry if it seemed like this was my intention as it is not. My vet told me about five weeks for his hormone level to settle. My intention is to EVENTUALLY run him in a mixed herd however initially he will have a quiet gelding or two for paddock company and I envisage it being about 6 weeks before we head in that direction. He will be quietly brought back into work next week.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Sorry if it seemed like this was my intention as it is not. My vet told me about five weeks for his hormone level to settle. My intention is to EVENTUALLY run him in a mixed herd however initially he will have a quiet gelding or two for paddock company and I envisage it being about 6 weeks before we head in that direction. He will be quietly brought back into work next week.

Okay, thanks for clarifying :) My experiance with eviscoration was as soon as the colt stood up.. not good.

Anyways, the one I had gelded at three was running with the mares in about 3 months :) He now acts completly like a gelding, and it's been almost exactly a year.

[Cloverbarley]

When I had my stallion gelded he was living with his bred mares. He went straight back in with "his" mares immediately after being gelded. He was always a wonderful stallion and it was no big deal for him to become a gelding as I had always brought him up to live in herds. A few years on, he's as wonderful a gelding as he was a stallion. He lives in a mixed herd now and gets along with everyone.

It usually takes about a month for any remaining sperm to become non-viable.

[Cindyg]

My guy was about 9 when he was gelded, and he had been bred. He was miserable. Like the horse that Movin knew, he paced the fenceline and screamed constantly. This went on for about a year. He's 22 now. His screaming and pacing days are over, but he still reacts more like a stallion than a gelding.

[Life O'Reilly]

A quick update for anyone interested:

Reilly is now contentedly sharing his pasture with two geldings. One a twenty year old Thoroughbred and the other a yearling Irish Sport Horse. There is lots of nose to tail mutual fly switching and itchy spot scratching going on and he has stopped any fence walking or calling out. It feels great to know he is happy again :D

[Movin Artfully]

Thanks for the update. I am happy for him! :)

[Clarion]

A quick update for anyone interested:

Reilly is now contentedly sharing his pasture with two geldings. One a twenty year old Thoroughbred and the other a yearling Irish Sport Horse. There is lots of nose to tail mutual fly switching and itchy spot scratching going on and he has stopped any fence walking or calling out. It feels great to know he is happy again :D

Glad to hear he is doing so well. I just had my 2 year old colt gelded a little over a week ago(closed castration). I'm looking forward to him being able to go out with others as well. So are you already seeing a difference in his behavior from when he was a stallion?

[Life O'Reilly]

He has always been a pretty chilled out stallion, quiet and easy to handle etc. I would say he is just the same now as he was but instead of worrying about the ladies and their wee ones a few paddocks over, he is now more interested in the grass and hanging with his new buddies. I am sending him away this week for a working holiday where he will be brought back into work at a busy barn - I am sure it will do him the world of good to be in the thick of it all again, where there is lots happening and it is about time he started to do something again as he has been a paddock ornament and pasture mower for long enough now :)